The procession of women to the Office of the Regional Commissioner of Dar es salaam last week dominated the Newsrooms of a number of media in Tanzania. The social media were not left behind. They were extremely busy immediately reporting whatever came across them. As in social media every smartphone owner becomes a reporter, exaggerations could not be avoided as editing is not important. Pictures of women in a procession and video clips of some of them lamenting and cursing their former partners in 'crimes' who were alleged to have ceased to perform their responsibilities were most shared. Those that portrayed pictures of children who were said to be a result of love affairs with some prominent figures in the country flooded the social media. Interesting, there were some ladies who seemed to have misunderstood the exercise-which by all means had seemingly targeted children ( probably below 18 years). These ladies claiming to have been deserted by their fathers- mostly prominent figures, left unanswered questions as to whether they qualified for the exercise. This is because unlike other women who had paraded with their children before the RC Office, these ladies presented themselves without their mothers. Some people were quick to dispute their allegations claiming that they were being used politically. Indeed there is one lady who claimed her child has been deserted by her lover (a political figure ) later on declared that her allegations were not true and that there were some people behind her previous allegations. The question is ' how many women had undergone similar experience?'
There were those who were disputing the entire exercise that it had no legal authority as there are appropriate institutions to handle such matters. Some associated the matter with violation of the rights of children given the pictures of these minors which were being circulated widely. This matter was also raised by the Deputy Minister of Health who insisted on the need for the media to observe the rights of children while reporting the matter. Another interesting part of this issues was the video clips of married women (Legal Wives) who did not sympathise with the single parents who had paraded at the RC's office claiming that those women deserved such treated because they knew that the men they were dating were married hence they were reaping what they sow. These women showed no remorse for the women whom they called thieves who have been stealing their husbands.
Despite of all that happened the lesson that every responsible parent should take is that whether it was planned or unplanned pregnancy, the child should not be punished. All parents should ensure that the wellbeing of their children are enhanced to the admirable levels. One should not wait for some institutions to remind them of their responsibilities to raise their childrenim as this sounds absurd and embarrassing. LETS BE RESPONSIBLE PARENTS
